The Internet has grown to become an important outlet of electronic communication. Tools such as email and instant messaging (IM; sometimes also referred to as “chat”) are popular amongst Internet users. These tools help users stay connected to each other and help them become more productive. IM, in particular, has grown beyond its original niche of personal communications tool to a collaboration tool with business applications.
A feature that is desired by business users of IM is archiving. Currently, IM messages are generally not archived or archived only at the local client(s) of the parties to an IM session. Non-archiving of IM messages or archiving of IM messages at the client limits the potential uses of the IM archives as business documents. However, archiving of IM messages, particularly for business applications, also raises issues of privacy and protection of sensitive information. Accordingly, an efficient system of archiving IM messages is needed.